The functional food is currently popular in Thailand and other countries worldwide. As the country of biodiversity and agriculture, this food trend significantly benefits Thailand. A research team comprising of researchers from National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Kasetsart University (KU), and Synchrotron Light Research Institute (SLRI) joined to study “Lingzhi” a herb which is, in prior studies, found containing with high protein. This study aimed to support functional food development focusing on bioactive compounds such as peptides, or short-chain proteins.

Although Lingzhi can be developed as a functional food, there are studies revealed that Lingzhi, both naturally grown, and planted in farms located in different locations in Thailand, P.R China, Japan, and Vietnam, contains different nutrients. The research team, therefore, worked on analysis of nutritional value in Lingzhi planted in Betong District, Yala Province, which is one of the main Lingzhi production area in Thailand. The study aimed to develop Lingzhi as a functional food in Geographical indications (GI), and increase value of Thailand agricultural products.

In this study, the research team analyzed parts of Lingzhi planted in Betong Sub-district, Betong District, Yala Province, by applying the Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) at Beamline 4.1, SLRI, to indicate the identity and amounts of biological nutrients including protein, carbohydrate, and lipid. The study result will be helpful in selecting appropriate parts of Lingzhi to extract for bioactive compounds which can prevent free radical formation in Lipopolysaccharide-induced cells. The formation of free radicals in cells leads to cell stress, and the high formation causes various non-communicable diseases such as vascular diseases, obesity, cancer.

The results showed that the studied Lingzhi from Betong, Yala contained bioactive compounds like peptides and other compounds including protein, nucleic acid, and carbohydrate. This finding proved that Lingzhi can be developed as a functional food and an export product to increase income to farmers in the Southern border as well as create value added to the country